The News Matrix: Wednesday 1 May 2013

Rise in complaints to press watchdog

Complaints to the press watchdog soared last year, figures showed yesterday. The Press Complaints Commission said it received 12,000 complaints – 63 per cent more than in 2011, the year it was revealed that murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked. In the first two months of this year, there were 1,131 complaints to the PCC, an increase of 3 per cent.

Spending cuts are back on the agenda

Michael Gove and George Osborne are set for a Cabinet battle after the Treasury and Liberal Democrat ministers prepare to look at the schools budget. Spending on schools has been ringfenced in previous negotiations, but the Chancellor seeks a further £11.5bn in cuts. MORE

Children living in rented homes at risk

Children are being uprooted from their schools and even left homeless because their families live in rented property, according to a study by housing charity Shelter. One in five families now rent privately, but short contracts mean they are at the mercy of landlords. MORE

Five-year-old girl dies after brutal rape

Protests erupted after a five-year-old girl died from injuries she sustained in a horrific rape. The child was left in a coma following the attack in Madhya Pradesh state. Two men were arrested and the girl’s mother has called for the perpetrators to be “burned alive”.

Islamists bungled plan to attack EDL

Six radical Islamists have pleaded guilty to planning a bomb attack on hundreds of people attending an English Defence League (EDL) rally in Dewsbury. The plot failed when they turned up late. One of the bomber’s cars was impounded during a motorway police check. MORE

Bailout deal gains grudging approval

The government has approved a multibillion-euro bailout deal which is intended to prevent the crisis-hit Mediterranean country from going bankrupt. The agreement was passed in parliament yesterday, securing the country a €10bn (£8.4bn) loan. But there is still anger about the terms of the settlement.

Thirteen killed in Damascus bombing

A bomb killed 13 people and injured 70 in Damascus – the second such attack in the capital in as many days. No group claimed responsibility, although state-run television blamed “terrorists”. Meanwhile, government forces killed 15 rebels in an air strike in Aleppo.

Military captures French ‘jihadist’

French troops have arrested a French citizen who converted to Islam, took on the jihadist cause and threatened France in a video last autumn. Gilles Le Guen was arrested north of Timbuktu. The French military was interrogating the man, thought to be in his 40s, but planned to hand him over to Malian forces.

Castro’s daughter allowed to visit US

The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro will be allowed to travel to the US to accept an award for her gay rights advocacy, reversing a previous decision to reject her visa request. Mariela Castro will attend the Equality Forum’s annual conference on civil rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people.

Girl, 2, gets windpipe made from her cells

A two-year-old girl born without a windpipe has had a new one grown from her stem cells. Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat or drink on her own since she was born. Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois created a windpipe using her bone marrow cells and implanted it during a nine-hour operation.

Spider-Man scuttles off with $6,000

Police are searching for a man in a Spider-Man costume who snatched $6,000(£3,800) from a tour company office on Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood’s Walk of Fame area is popular with street performers who dress as film characters and try to earn tips by posing for photos with tourists.

Kristen takes the crown again

Twilight star Kristen Stewart, pictured, has been crowned the world’s best-dressed woman by Glamour magazine for the second year running, despite competition from Emma Watson and the Duchess of Cambridge.